THIERRY HENRY apologised for breaking Irish hearts with his World Cup handball, but said it was “necessary to exploit what was exploitable”.

And Henry rubbed salt into Republic of Ireland wounds by claiming they should have buried the French long before the controversial equaliser that meant Giovanni Trapattoni’s men missed out on next summer’s finals.

France striker Henry admitted he handled the ball before setting up William Gallas to score in extra-time. He is adamant he is an honest player, but also admits the stakes were so high that any chance had to be taken. Following stinging criticism of his actions, Henry yesterday posted a message on his Twitter website that read: “I’m not the referee, but if I hurt someone I’m sorry.

“It was not a beautiful match. It was just necessary to exploit what was exploitable. The Irishmen could have doubled their lead two or three times.

“I will not lie, there was a hand. The ball ran up against my hand and I continued to play, the referee did not whistle and there was a goal.

“I would have preferred that it happened differently, but this is not down to me – it is the referee. However, I do not believe our qualification is stolen.

“I said to Richard Dunne that the ball had touched my hand, but he told me, ‘You are not to blame’.”

But Robert Pires, Henry’s former Arsenal and France team-mate, had different ideas. He said: “The question is whether it was intentional or unintentional. If you see it on TV it’s intentional, of course.

“You cannot say it is unintentional. That would be lying and hypocritical.

“In my opinion, Thierry should not be going to Ireland or England. This is going to follow him. The harm is done. I don’t know that even an apology to the Irish people would be accepted.

“Out of respect for the people of Ireland, I am not going to celebrate. You can’t be happy with the way we qualified.

“That is the worst match I have seen France play. The Irish team and Trapattoni were the tops. Domenech should just ask for Trapattoni’s book. He had been given a lesson by him.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, asked on French television whether Henry should have owned up at the time, said: “One shouldn’t say. Well, one should but one doesn’t. We know the pressure and what’s at stake.

“France shouldn’t gain qualification with these things. All the stadium has seen the handball, but the referee hasn’t. This isn’t the French way and football should learn from this. In the end we qualified because of a referee’s mistake.”